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Cook County Sun and Save launched in 2023 to remove cost barriers to solar energy for income-eligible homeowners in Cook County. Funded through the American Rescue Plan Act, the program delivers solar panel installations at no cost to eligible participating residents. So far, the program has completed 62 solar installations across the Chicagoland area, with additional projects actively moving forward. There are a few stand-out projects that were particularly successful. One i

In the coming months, most buildings over 50,000 square feet in the City of Chicago and Evanston, and buildings over 10,000 square feet in Oak Park, will be working on their energy use reports to remain in compliance with annual mandatory city ordinances.  This post is a reminder that 360 Energy Group provides customizable energy benchmarking services. We have benchmarked 46 million square feet ranging from industrial facilities to shopping malls to apartment buildings. Energ

In early November, Illinois legislators passed the Clean and Reliable Grid Act (CRGA) , establishing it as law and setting the date of June 1, 2026, for the bill to go into effect.  CRGA builds on CEJA (the Clean and Equitable Jobs Act), a significant piece of earlier legislation that set foundational climate goals for the state of Illinois. These included phasing out fossil fuel plant emissions and expanding renewables. However, CEJA lacked provisions for energy storage depl

Last week, the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned  that although improvements in global primary energy intensity (a measure of world-wide energy efficiency used by the United Nations) are set to reach about 1.8 % in 2025, progress remains well below the pace needed to double gains, an international climate and energy goal for 2030 set by COP28. IEA analyst Lucas Boehlé emphasized that energy efficiency (often called the “first fuel” because it can improve affordability,

Launched in 2023 and supported by the American Rescue Plan Act, Cook County Sun and Save set out to expand access to renewable energy for income-eligible Cook County homeowners by providing no-cost solar panel installations. Various public and private partners including 360 Energy Group, Cook County Department of Environment and Sustainability, and EnergySense Resilience Center came together around this program to help residents save on energy costs and reduce carbon emission

The annual  Clean Jobs Midwest Report  has ranked Illinois fifth in the nation for clean energy job creation, adding 3,724 jobs last year. One out of every ten new jobs in Illinois in 2024 were in the clean energy industry according to the report, placing Illinois as the frontrunner among Midwestern states for job growth in solar, wind, batteries, energy efficiency, storage and grid, and other clean energy subsectors. These fields continued to outpace the broader economy, and